Granular material container with handle



April 25, 1961 H, JOHNSON E AL 2,981,459

GRANULAR MATERIAL CONTAINER WITH HANDLE Filed Sept. 11, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 fnz/enionsv & fiz'c/ardfikfbwon, a

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April 25, 1961 R. H. JOHNSON ETAL 2,981,459

GRANULAR MATERIAL CONTAINER WITH HANDLE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 A .ZZF.

F Lled Sept. 11, 1959 Z ia , 1961 R. H. JOHNSON ETAL 2,981,459

GRANULAR MATERIAL CONTAINER WITH HANDLE Filed Sept. 11, 1959 April 25 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent C) GRANULAR MATERIAL CONTAINER WITH HANDLE Richard H. Johnson, Arlington Heights, and William G.

Kuehn, In, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 11, 19:59, Ser. No. 839,361 1 Claim. 01. 229-52 The present invention relates to containers and more particularly to collapsible containers or cartons formed from foldable paperboard and adapted to hold granular or powdered substances such as soaps and detergents.

An object of the present invention is to provide a foldable carton of the type referred to which may be made up in collapsed, tubular form, suitable for use on package filling and closing machines, such cartons having a top closure formed of overlapping, foldable parts so con structed as to form, in closed position, an integral carrying handle. 7 A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel and efficient form of carrying handle for a folding carton that is simple in construction and economical to produce and which may be handled by filling and closing machines of generally standard or conventional construction with only a minimum of special parts or changes to adapt the machines for such form of carton.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a paperboard carton with foldable top closures, two of the closures comprising a hollow or double wall construction, the lower or inner walls serving as the primary closure and the upper or outer walls serving as the handle member.

Additional and more specific objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In the drawings: a

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a carton or contame made in accordance with the present invention showing it as it appears in completely closed condition;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the upper portion only of the carton with a tab on an outer closure flap folded inward and then upward to form part of the carrying handle;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing the hollow wall construction and how the fingers of a person may be inserted to carry the package;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a preferred form of paperboard blank from which the carton may .be constructed;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the blank showing the panels forming the hollow wall closures folded over and glued to the side walls;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the upper portion of the carton showing itin expanded condition with one of the hollow wall closures in the process of being swung down to closing position; and

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but showing thehollow closures in closed position.

Essentially'the container is of the tubular type, formed of foldable paperboard, preferably of a one-piece construction and comprising a rectangular bottom and top and four interconnected side walls. The top closure is formed from two similar sections connected to opposite side walls. Such sections are hollow, having spaced upper and lower panels connected at their inner extremities by Patented Apr. 25, 1961 narrow, vertically disposed panels preferably of the same width, and which, in the closed position of the sections, are in close contact. The lower panels serve as the primary closure members to retain granular or powdered contents. The space between the upper and lower panels is sufiicient to admit the fingers of the person desiring to carry the container. Each upper panel is preferably formed with an opening into which the fingers of a person may be inserted, then partially bent to engage and bear against the under surfaces of the upper panels. In order to stiffen and reinforce the handle forming area of the upper panels and to hold the hollow closures in position, the other opposite side walls carry flaps which may be folded down and secured to the upper panels. One of the flaps preferably carries a tab that may be folded into one, or preferably both, openings in the upper panels. By folding the tab through 180 it will come to rest against the under surface of the upper panels and serve to stiffen such panels, increasing their resistance to deflection when the weight of the filled container is imposed upon them.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the container may be formed from a one-piece blank of foldable paperboard as shown in Fig. 4, cut and scored to provide four interconnected side walls 1, 2, 3 and 4. The walls are defined from each other by score lines 5, 6 and 7. An attaching flap 8 is hinged to wall 1 along score line 9. On the lower ends of the side walls are carried flaps 10, 11, 12 and 13, hinged to the walls along a common score line 14. t

The upper end of the container is preferably closed by a pair of hollow closure members, each indicated as a whole at 15 and 16 carried by walls 1 and 3 respectively. The other two walls, 2 and 4, carry at their upper ends flaps 17 and 18, forming additional closure members. The four closure members are defined from the side Walls by a common score line 19.

The attaching flap 8 preferably has short tabs 20, 21 at its ends which are adhesively secured to the respective flaps 13 and 18 and strengthen the upper corners of the container.

The hollow closure members are preferably formed with upper panels 22 and 22a, hinged to the respective the respective walls 1 and 3. The panels 22 and 25 of the closure 15, after the container has been expanded, may thus be swung down in substantial parallelism to a horizontal position. Likewise, the panels of the closure 16 may be swung down to meet the closure 15. The closures will then appear as shown in Fig. 7. The free edges of panels 25 and 25a will substantially meet centrally of the container and the panels 23 and 23a, for convenience called vertically disposed panels, will be brought substantially into face-to-face relation.

Byfolding down the flaps 17 and 18 to overlie the.

upper panels 22 and 22a and attaching them with adhesive, the container is securely closed.

In order to provide means for carrying the container, an opening is formed in one of the top panels to admit the fingers of a person desiring to carry the container. Preferably each of the upper panels 22 and 22a is formed with an opening indicated at 30, 30a. These openings, as herein shown, extend from the narrow, vertically disposed panels 23 and 23a outwardly toward the hinge lines of the panels 22 and 22a. By placing one or more fingers in the opening thus formed and bending the fingers to bear upwardly against the under side of the panels 22 and 22a, the container may readily be carried.

For the purpose of stiffening the handle-forming area of one or both of the panels 22 and 22a, it is preferred to provide an inwardly foldable tab on the flap 18. In the present instance the flap 18 is formed of a length to extend to the remote edges of the openings and 30a. See Figs. 2 and 3. A tab 31 is preferably cut from within the contour of the flap 18. At the base of the tab are formed two closely spaced fold lines 32 and 33 to facilitate folding the tab around the edges of the upper panels.

In order to accommodate the tab in its downward swinging movement, semicircular openings 34 and 34a are cut in the narrow panels 23 and 23a. These openings communicate with the openings 30 and 30a and, in the present instance, portions of openings 34 and 34a are offset from openings 30, 30a in the direction of the hinge of flap 18. To allow for a greater length of the tab 31 than would be permitted by the openings 34 and 34a, as illustrated, the tab 31, in the present instance, is formed with a slot 36 having a width slightly greater than the combined thickness of the narrow panels 23 and 23a. The extremities of the tab 31 may thus extend beyond the openings 34, 34a, as shown in Fig. 3, when the tab is folded inwardly against the under surfaces of the panels 22 and 22a.

The tab 31 preferably is held in place within the contour of the flap 18 until such time that it is desired to carry the container by insertion of fingers within the openings 30, 30a. To assure the tab remaining in place two small points of attachment or nicks 35, are allowed to remain when the tab is cut. These nicks are small enough to be broken readily when the tab 31 is forced down.

After the hollow closures have been secured in flat collapsed form, as shown in Fig. 5, and the container has been glued into the form of a flat, collapsed tube, the container is ready to be delivered to the user. After the container has been brought to expanded condition and the bottom flaps are folded over and sealed, the container is ready to receive its contents. After filling, the hollow closure members are folded down. The flaps 1'7 and 18 are then adhesively secured to the upper panels 22 and 22a of the hollow closures and the filled containers are then ready for delivery to retail outlets. In practice the container need not be altered to employ the handle feature until it is ready to leave the retail store. When it is desired to employ the handle feature it is only necessary to depress the tab 31, breaking the slight connections with its enclosing flap 18 and fold the tab 31 through 180, as shown in Fig. 3. By slipping the fingers within the openings and under the infolded tab the container may readily be lifted and carried. The contents of the container will continue to remain completely enclosed by the lower panels 25, 25a.

A line of tear 37 may be formed in wall panels 2, 3 and 4, joining with a score line 38 in wall 1, to facilitate opening the container to dispense its contents. By cutting or tearing the walls 2, 3 and 4 along the line 37 the top portion of the container may then be swung back along the score line 38, permitting the contents to be poured out over the severed edge in wall 3, or scooped out, as may be desired.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the present invention provides a sturdy and efficient container for granular or other fluent materials such as soap and detergent powders or flakes, capable of being handled on filling and closing machines and, as there are no irregular or projecting parts which comprise the handle feature, the filled containers may readily be packed in groups in larger containers and may be stacked efficiently in retail stores where the packages are displayed for sale. When it is desired to utilize the carrying handle it is only the work of a moment to depress the tab 31 and fold it inside the hollow closures, thus conditioning the package quickly for convenient carrying. The provision of the hinged, hollow closure members, having the pair of adjacent vertical panels extending centrally of the top closare of the container, gives substantial strength to such closure, and enables relatively heavy contents to be accommodated by the container without risk of undue distortion or buckling of the parts in the area of the handle.

While the present description sets forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, various changes may be made in the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is therefore desired that the pre ent embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claim rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

We claim:

A paperboard container, comprising: a bottom and four interconnected side walls, two opposed side walls each having hingedly connected to their upper ends a hollow closure member, said closure members each comprising upper and lower panels spaced a sufiicient distance to admit between them the fingers of a person, vertically disposed panels connecting the spaced panels of each closure member along lines remote from their connection with the side walls, said vertically disposed panels being in close side-by-side relation centrally of the container when said closure members are in closed position, the upper panels of said closure members being formed with adjacent finger-receiving openings extending outwardly from the vertically disposed panels, a closure flap hinged to each of the other opposed side walls, said flaps extending over and secured against the upper closure panels, one of the closure flaps having a length sufficient to overlie the two adjacent finger openings, said closure flap including a hinged tab cut from within the contour of the closure flap and foldable down into the adjacent openings and up against the under surfaces of the upper closure panels, the vertical panels of the hollow closure members being partially cut away adjacent the tab to permit said tab to fold freely inward into position against the upper closure panels, the adjacent vertical panels of the hollow closure members being cut away along an approximately circular contour the radius of which is less than the length of the hinged tab, said tab being formed with a slot at its free edge into which slot the adjacent portions of the vertical panels are received when the tab is folded down.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,213,455 Burke Jan. 23, 1917 2,019,307 Hill et al. Oct. 29, 1935 2,365,739 Williamson Dec. 26, 1944 2,718,301 Palmer Sept, 20, 1955 

